sunnydelight

Constant yo-yo dieter, but sometimes active. Am a BIG foodie, hence the extra poundage. Made excuses ALL THE TIME about why I couldn't eat well and why I didn't have time to exercise. And one day, I discovered that I had let myself go completely. Am here to change all that now. What's important isn't what WAS yesterday, but what I AM doing right now and how that affects what I WILL become tomorrow.

My profile states that I'm following Bill Phillips' Body for Life, but I really am following a hybrid of various sources. I just wanted to promote his method because that man has taught me how to exercise.

My method is a combination of focused exercise and a body-builder's diet. I do HIIT cardio 3x a week and weight training 3x a week. I pretty much abuse myself when I'm at the gym, but afterwards there is such a satisfying feeling. My diet is a balance of high protein, moderate fat, and low carbs. I do not eat sugar. My diet is also free of anything with chemicals: packaged foods, soda, artificial sweeteners, anything in the middle part of the grocery store. I also abstain from starchy carbs because over the years I've discovered that I am extra-sensitive to high-glycemic foods. I eat whole foods, drink lots of white and green tea. I'm not afraid to eat fat, but I make an extra effort to increase consumption of Omega-3 fat and decrease Omega-6 fat.

Some helpful references that I've found:
Bill Phillips' Body for Life
Andrea Albright: http://ilovemybody.i360net.com...
The Gabriel Method
Eat Right for Your Type, by Peter D'Adamos
The Protein Power Life Plan

I love discovering new fitness routines or different ways to make this kind of lifeplan stick. Drop me a line if you want to share ideas or ask questions about my experience.

sunnydelight's Latest Posts

hey guys, I'm very new to weight training and have laways been told that if you are overweight, protein supplementation will only make you bigger, and that it's better left to underweight people looking to only gain muscle. Is this true? I only have a very basic understanding of how it all works. This thread just sparked my curiousity.

I think in general if you simply add more protein supplement to a dietary intake of maintenance calories, you will gain weight. The idea is to make sure you're keeping within your caloric limit while adding the supplements. When I added whey protein to my diet, I chose to cut out fat to limit my calories. I have not gained but lost fat while maintaining my muscle mass.

The difference is clear between the effects of these two forms of protein. Whey protein is digested extremely quickly in comparison to casein, which means that most of it will be in excess. What I mean is, your body can only handle a given amount of protein at any given time. Having too high a concentration of amino acids in your blood will force your body to either store them as fat or to excrete them via the kidneys.

With casein protein, instead of having a spike of amino acids in the blood, a more controlled release of amino acids into the blood results. You’ll have the amino acids you need to build muscle long after your meal, preventing muscle wasting and promoting muscle growth.

The Nitrogen Balance

This can also be explained using your overall Nitrogen balance. In general, when your body is losing muscle mass (amino acids) through energy metabolism or excretion, you have a negative nitrogen balance (at least one Nitrogen atom is present in each amino acid). In other words, you’re losing more Nitrogen than you’re taking in, resulting in a negative Nitrogen balance.

Taking in casein protein is a way to equilibrate this Nitrogen balance and shift it towards the positive end. Your muscles will be less likely to lose mass since amino acids are being released slowly into the blood through the digestive tract. “Case in” point? More muscle growth, less muscle wasting during a short fast.

However, one advantage of whey protein is that muscular synthesis occurs much more quickly since there’s a surge of amino acids in the blood following ingestion.

The point I’m trying to make here is that you should use both sources of protein in moderation – too much whey protein and you’ll begin to lose muscle mass during a fast along with storing much of it as fat. Too much casein and your protein synthesis will be extremely slow.

So, the obvious conclusion is to use them both together in your protein supplements, shakes and normal diet. Don’t just take a whey protein shake or just a casein shake. This way, you’ll have a fast-acting protein that’s fantastic immediately following a workout along with a slow-acting protein (casein protein) that’ll prevent muscle wasting later on.

The main advantage of casein protein comes when you hit the sack. What happens to your body for that 7-8 hours you’re laying in bed at night? If you haven’t had any casein protein before bed, then chances are you may be losing some muscle mass. Why? Most of your muscle rebuilding occurs while you’re asleep, not during the day. Without casein protein, you’re liable to lose amino acids from another muscle source to rebuild the damaged muscle. Not good!

Taking in some whey protein before bed won’t really help either, since you’ll be without a source of amino acids for about 7 of your 8 hours of sleep (whey protein is completely digested in about an hour). On the other hand, casein protein continues its release of amino acids into the blood for about 6-8 hours following ingestion. Goodbye muscle wasting!

If you focus on one or the other, you’ll be losing some serious benefits!

I find it easier to focus and make sure I'm really doing high/low intensity when I'm using a heart rate monitor. Maybe you already have one. I do think they're helpful, even when you're on a machine. That way you don't have to touch the handles or whatever to get a reading. It's just a constant flow of heart rate information.

I agree. I can't work out without my heart-rate monitor. I don't focus enough without the motivation.